Hamilton “surprised” by Button’s pass (Turkish Grand Prix team-by-team)

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The McLarens very nearly finished in the opposite order

While the drama at Red Bull was impossible to miss, McLaren’s one-two win at Istanbul wasn’t a straightforward affair either.

After the race there was talk of “confusion” over the drivers’ instructions to save fuel. Lewis Hamilton spoke of being “surprised” that Jenson Button caught and passed him – before Hamilton reversed the move.

Jenson ButtonLewis Hamilton
Qualifying position42
Qualifying time comparison (Q3)1’26.781 (+0.348)1’26.433
Race position21
Average race lap1’31.901 (+0.046)1’31.856
Laps58/5858/58
Pit stops11

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Jenson Button

McLaren enjoyed far better performance after a poor weekend in Monaco – and Button benefited from a problem-free race after suffering car trouble in the last two rounds.

Had it not been for Michael Schumacher’s spin in qualifying Button might well have taken third off Vettel in qualifying. Unfortunately Button had let Schumacher past before starting his final flying lap.

Schumacher got past Button at the first corner as Button took care not to run into his team mate. Unlike in Spain, this time Button made short work of Schumacher, passing him on the run to turn 12.

He never looked like passing Vettel in the opening stint, nor putting a move on his team mate – until the Red Bulls went out.

After that Button first closed on Hamilton, then passed him on lap 48, only for Hamilton to reverse the move at the next corner. Button then slipped back from his team mate – as the lap time chart above shows he was suddenly around half a second per lap slower.

Compare Jenson Button’s form against his team mate in 2010

Lewis Hamilton

Bounced back from a lurid spin at turn eight in final practice – partly thanks to him dragging the car back to the pits on at least two punctured tyres.

Hamilton split the Red Bulls in qualifying and put a handy pass on Vettel on the first lap to hold onto his second place at the start.

He fell back behind Vettel due to a slow pit stop and was close behind the two RB6s when they collided on lap 41.

It’s clear from the lap times that both McLarens began – or increased – their efforts to preserve their cars from that moment on. But Hamilton slowed down more than Button as he explained after the race:

I felt confident we could get a potential one-two, and we were trying to look after the tyres and save the fuel to the finish. The [lap time] target they gave me was perhaps a little bit slower than they’d meant, so Jenson was suddenly on my tail. I had a great battle with him, and was happy to get past because it was quite a surprise.
Lewis Hamilton

Reading between the lines it seems likely the pair were told to back off, the team wishing to avoid a repeat of what had happened to Red Bull.

But it’s unlikely that having Button pass Hamilton and then be re-taken by him figured in the team’s game plan at all, and they can consider themselves lucky it didn’t end in tears.

Compare Lewis Hamilton’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 Turkish Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 Turkish Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    202 comments on “Hamilton “surprised” by Button’s pass (Turkish Grand Prix team-by-team)”

    1. love those between the lines quotes.

      Hami is always “surprised”. :P

      1. Actually Lewis needs to watch his back at McLaren. I regard this whole talk of Lewis being favourite at McLaren as nothing but preemtive spin, a smoke screen, there in order to pull the rug from under anyone who questions decisions that aid Jensen and hamper Lewis..

        It is clear that Whitmarsh, and certain other tech staff, are playing to the home crowd and certain sponsors…who would find a clean cut blond smoothie more acceptable than a black man as a champion..not to forget that a win for Jensen would make him the 1st Englishman to hang onto his title of course…

        And when one takes into account that in F1 most fans, commentators, tech staff, stewards etc come from the same background, then it is not difficult to see how they can all agree as to who they want to see as champion and collectively and independently work towards that goal. This is clear to see in the constant negativity that seems to surround everything Lewis does: “.. aggressive driving style” or ” …hard on his tyres” and other such nonsense, while in contrast Jensen is…”smooth”, “cool” etc etc

        There are a lot of ppl out their who find Lewis talent and success hard to swallow..F1 is on the cutting edge of technology perhaps, but culturally its 50 yrs behind the curve…

        Listeing to certain commentators, who know exactly what to say in order for their careers to blossom, you would think Jensen is the best thing to hit F1 since Fangio, when in fact he is one of the most boring drivers out there. Last year he only won because he was in the fastest car, which was of dubious legality any how and then he was given preferential treatment against his aging team mate! This year he lucked into 2 wins, one of which was at the expense of Lewis being ham strung by McLaren…

        There is too much politics at McLaren under Whitmarsh and less passion and racing it seems to me than there was during days of Ron Dennis. Whitmarsh and Co need to stop playing games and focus enriching the “equal status” spirit of the McLaren, that made it the great team it is today..

        1. It is clear that Whitmarsh, and certain other tech staff, are playing to the home crowd and certain sponsors…who would find a clean cut blond smoothie more acceptable than a black man as a champion..not to forget that a win for Jensen would make him the 1st Englishman to hang onto his title of course…

          Do you have any facts to back that up? Or are you just going to throw baseless accusations around while hiding behind a false name?

          1. Praveen Titus
            31st May 2010, 17:38

            Great response Keith! Good to silence those black-blonde theorists.

            What we can clearly say based on race evidence is that Lewis was on fuel-save mode and Button wasn’t, but the moment Button’s place was taken back by Lewis he was suddenly on fuel-save mode. What I think, based on this analysis, is that Button was told to let Lewis win this race.

            To me it seemed that Button did not defend the inside line into Turn 1. If that’s true, it’s clear that he was told to let Lewis by and coast to the finish – not to hassle him again. I don’t know if the press conference behavior is reliable, but Button seemed to be clearly hiding an ocean of facts and just skimming through the surface while answering the questions.

            Ferrari once blatantly exercised team-orders with Schumacher and Barrichello to the boos of spectators, nowadays it is carried out subtly. The evil is still there, it seems.

            1. Maverick_23
              1st June 2010, 0:25

              I think you are looking far too hard at this and trying to find anything you can put it out there that theres a rift between the two.

              Button didnt defend the into turn 1 as Lewis positioned his car better going into the last corner got a better exit out of it. This meant Lewis had better speed on the straight and combined with the brief toe (and the red mist spilling out his helmet) the move was done and dusted way before anywhere near turn 1.

              Jenson said in a interview on the bbc post race that he was told to fuel save as early as lap 20.
              We all heard the team radio to Lewis which stated both cars needed to save fuel after the Red bull fun and games.
              Maybe there are different levels of fuel saving or maybe Jenson decided for a few laps he would push Lewis to try and win the race (i know i would).

              I believe that the team thought telling Jenson to save fuel was enough to get them both to cruise to finish. It turned out not be and after they showed the Redbulls how to overtake team mates i think Jenson was reminded more firmly of his fuel saving duties.

              Maybe im wrong but, that would explain why Lewis asked Jenson “what was that?” just before going to the podium and why Jenson was very eager to explain why, with lots of gestures and hugs for Lewis.

              I must also say though Jensons move deserves credit even though Lewis didnt expect him to attack, but the overtake by Lewis into turn 1 (and we can all agree non-fuel saving mode lol) was brilliant. Fighting for that inside line to the corner then hanging Jenson out on the rumble strip on the exit. Truly sublime!

          2. Keith, the majority of people on this blog actually don’t use any facts to support their arguement, how some of them critique Hamilton, you think did they actually watch the race they are commenting on.

            I hope you request the same from other bloggers, who put up baseless accusations.

            Saying that, the issue at Mclaren has nothing to do with colour, they wouldn’t invest in an individual who is black , if they were racist. I feel some of the contributers here are border line fruit & nutcases.

            We all have an opinion, about our teams & drivers, that is why we love F! and are slightly bias, but, come let’s leave racism out of this

          3. Jhonnie Siggie
            31st May 2010, 18:03

            I agree with you Keith in that these accusations do indeed appear to be baseless. I am wondering though why you would chastise this person for remaining anonymous. It is obviously so very common for people in the WWW sphere to use screen names instead of their real names. I suppose my only suggestion would be that people use their screen names consistently rather than use a one-off name to throw bombs.

          4. If you want facts all you need to do is look at Lewis’ career, in terms of media coverage, penalties and the plethora of odd strategy decisions that have come his way, not mentioning fans dressed in gorilla suits with cards saying “Hamilton’s Family”!!!!…I think you, and many of the ppl here, know what I’m talking about; passive racism.

            I’ve to sit and listen to commentary telling me how “smooth” Jensen is and how “aggressive” Lewis is…you look at bbc highlights and they are always skewed to show Jensen greatest bits and fall short when it comes to Lewis’ achievement…I like Jensen, but I dont think he is what we are being told he is…and thats fine, but when i see, and many others do too, that a great young mans career is being deliberately damaged to help sell the Jensen myth then sorry i will speak about it; its called democracy…

            Lewis was subdued yesterday on the winners stage because, as many of us did, he sensed that his team was trying to sell him short; He got called in to the pits early which allowed Sebastian to pass him and Jensen to get on his tail and then he was told to conserve fuel ie slow down which allowed Jensen to surprise him with a passing move, Jensen only got told to “conserve fuel” after he failed to pass Lewis and stay ahead….

            If you’re honest with your selves then you know there is a point to what i’m saying…its ugly but it needs to be said…and if i’m to be honest, i would say that i sincerely hope that i’m wrong…but we need to SEE that and at this point what we SEE doesn;t match up with what we’re being told!

            1. If you look hard enough for ‘proof’ of things, you’ll always find it.

              « I’ve to sit and listen to commentary telling me how “smooth” Jensen is and how “aggressive” Lewis is »

              Yes, those are different qualities the two drivers possess – your point being? If I wanted to show that Jenson Button is getting the short shrift I could point to the same quote as disparaging of his driving qualities.

              You’re really reading too much into things, man.

            2. Did you not see the times Vettel was setting on the new tires? They called him in because they were hoping they’d PREVENT Vettel overtaking him!

            3. This is how I interprute the Mclaren fuel saving situation and hope that someone will agree:

              I think Jensen took the Opportunity after both drivers were asked to save fuel. Jensen knew that both Cars were suppose to slow down to save fuel, it was obviously an indication to both driver that “dont fool around like the red bulls did”, obviously Jensen saw the opportunity and got pass Lewis which surprised him. Jensen was the type of cheeky guy that does this kind of thing (its perfectly fine, human nature.) It was fair for Lewis to take the position back, and they were great clean move too. By then, both divers got clear message to “SAVE FUEL” & “SAVE TYRES”…. game over.

          5. the Sri Lankan
            1st June 2010, 1:46

            easy there! clearly hes just sharing his opinion

        2. This a complete load of rubbish, why do you have to assume there is a conspiracy going on just because jenson prooving he’s a pretty good driver…and i’m a hamilton fan!

          1. the Sri Lankan
            1st June 2010, 1:50

            i dunno Herbie, but i TOOOOOOO get the feeling that McLaren’s bogging Hamilton down

          2. Jensen is a good driver, but different style to Lewis. And Lewis is definitely better in many aspects…

            Driver must take any opportunity seen…. overtaking Hamilton during fuel saving laps are fine… I mean, he would have done the same if it was a Ferrari in front whos saving fuel..

            Its not really conspiracy, rather it is an interpretation of what has happened.

        3. I agree, and you’re not the only one to say so. Ignore those people who will deny it – it is obvious to see. They favour the blonde blue eyed boy to the black man – very subtly, little things here and there, but it is happening. It makes me feel ill. No wonder Lewis looks so dismayed – he may say political things to the camera but he is no fool and knows exactly what is going on. I really don’t know what the answer is though – looks like Lewis will have to fight twice as hard as his sneaky teammate for the same results. Let’s hope Team Button don’t screw up too many of his pitstops or put his wheels on wrong or give different instructions over the radio too much in the future because we can all see what is in front of our eyes and it isn’t fair racing.

          Also, I find, while this blog is excellent, Keith is very Button-partisan. A bit like McLaren.

          1. And yet, it is only Hamilton fans that see this “obvious” bias. Believe me, I thought that Lewis would stomp all over Jenson this year. But he hasn’t, and I think that this is because Jenson is a lot better than I thought, rather than any sort of bias in the team.

            Funny how conspiracy theories only make sense when you want them to, isn’t it? After all, I’m sure McLaren didn’t favour Hamilton over Alonso….

            1. @Red Andy: Of course McLaren favoured Hamilton over Alonso – it was blatantly obvious. Alonso was the foreigner, Hamilton was tolerably English. But now, to pick up S Hughes’s line of argument, McLaren have a *real* Englishman in Button. Ergo…

            2. Osiris – All of which is rubbish, of course. Did David Coulthard get preferential treatment over Mika Hakkinen? And what about all those years when McLaren didn’t even have a British driver?

              I don’t we should waste any more time talking about McLaren being ‘in favour’ of Button until those who are peddling that line can provide anything more compelling than spurious conjecture to back it up.

            3. And most Hamilton fans don’t “see” it.

            4. True Icthyes, I wasn’t meaning to tar all Lewis fans with the same brush. Just that when the “obvious” bias of McLaren towards Button is pointed out, it always seems to be Lewis fans doing the pointing. And the same Lewis fans, at that. Odd.

          2. They favour the blonde blue eyed boy to the black man – very subtly, little things here and there, but it is happening. It makes me feel ill.

            As I said to LooseCruze, can you offer any proof to support what you’re saying?

            1. Keith: Kovalainen, Hamilton’s previous teammate, pointed out the pro-Hamilton bias (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/6473980/Heikki-Kovalainen-warns-of-favouritism-towards-Lewis-Hamilton-at-McLaren.html).
              Alonso had earlier complained that McLaren favoured Hamilton over him – see http://tvnz.co.nz/content/1180083.
              Now, go ahead and tell me those complaints were “rubbish”.

            2. I asked for proof of Loosecruze’s claim that McLaren are favouring Button because they “find a clean cut blond smoothie more acceptable than a black man as a champion”.

            3. Actually that is not quite what i said but never mind… racism today has moved on, its no longer in your face, so you asking for proof is just a way of wiggling away from asking the real questions…this is not fun, i dont particularly enjoy coming on here and provoking this but it is upsetting to see whats going on with Lewis…

              The facts are: Jensen is ahed of Lewis, he has won more races and seems to be getting better support from the team..now Lewis made Fernando look ordinary in his rookie year and practically owned Heikki for 2 yrs…Jensen is not a better driver than Fernando, so just by that simple example alone, and not mentioning Lewis’ amazing drives this season, one can sense something is not quite right here!!!!

            4. @LooseCruze: Jenson outperforming Lewis – for whatever reason – does not imply racism or even bias. The only person doing any “wiggling” is you, in failing to respond to Keith’s perfectly reasonable request that you substantiate your allegations with evidence. So, let’s make this clear: either provide evidence to support your claim that McLaren favour Button over Hamilton, or retract your baseless claims.

          3. Here, right. McLaren are a large and experienced enough organisation to realise that things like this could destroy the company, they dont favour race or natioanlity, they just want the two fastest drivers in their car, hell, if mr blobby was faster than hamilton or button they’d hire him.

            1. Nah Williams tried that but hes moved over to nascar now!

        4. isten, the colour of his skin has nothing to do with it, just elements of favouritism, the calls been made towards hamilton by the team when he is challenging for a win, when Button is challenging as well, seem to go Buttons way.

          If they think Hamilton will sit there and play second fiddle to Button, Whitmarsh has got it wrong. Well, Mclaren, you have now unleashed the road warrior, he will now just look out for himself, I just can’t see Button carrying the team to victory on his own.

          Hamilton, needs a manager to watch his back, if this carry’s on Hamilton will be off

        5. It’s a real shame that this is going on at McLaren, but there have been too many incidents in favor of Jensen to say it isn’t happening, like the extra pit stop for Lewis in Australia, sending Jensen out to do a qualifying lap early in Malaysia, but not Lewis, not giving Lewis a shot at Jensen in China, but manufacturing a situation in Turkey to give Jensen a chance to pass.
          It was pretty clear from their expression that neither Lewis nor Jensen was happy at the end of the Turkish grand prix. Lewis, for not being warned about Jensen closing in fast (despite both being told to conserve fuel), and Jensen for finishing behind Lewis.
          So far this year, Jensen’s wins involved a bit of luck (Vettel’s retirement) and clever strategy (although in both wins it was a huge gamble). He didn’t have to fight anyone for either win, and yesterday he fought and lost.

        6. Mr. Zing Zang
          1st June 2010, 5:37

          Well said LooseCruze. This is what I think too. Ron Dennis was more able to see the ability inside Lewis more than Whitmarsh. Whitmarsh is inhibiting Hamilton’s true potential. He doesn’t give the effort for Hamilton to blossom. Ron Dennis is a much more thoughtful man. Dennis knows what Hamilton has to fight against and he really went out of his way to help Hamilton. This Whitmarsh guy is only set on Button.

        7. Story just wont go away, will it? McLaren finally admit to screwing up. I’d love to see the responses of all those “Lewis was just being paranoid” posters on this list.

          http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8728377.stm

          W

      2. I am surprised that nobody seems to have picked up on the last phrase of the engineers communication to Lewis about fuel saving , “It’s the same for both cars.” I immediately thought that phrase was the code for ‘no more racing between team mates’ and I think Lewis did too, hence his surprise at Jensons move and his subsequent subdued mood after the win. He clearly thought that his mate had pulled a sneaky on him and wasn’t happy given the good relationship they seem to have.

        I don’t believe their is a real pro-Jenson conspiracy at MacLaren but Whitmarsh does seem to be pushing a little too hard to ensure that the ‘this is Lewis’s team’ opinion does not get any more support.

        1. I think a much simpler explanation is that Jenson, who hasn’t been with McLaren anywhere near as long as Lewis, didn’t quite twig to what the radio messages meant.

          Until he got screamed at after the pass/re-pass anyway.

        2. When both cars are in fuel saving mode, you can’t race your team mate. I know it’s ‘racing’ but in this sport you shouldn’t attack your teammate when both have a big lead and need to save some fuel.
          I understand Lewis’ surprise. Many ppl now think Jenson was the quicker of the 2, but that isn’t clear as Lewis wasn’t going flat out (fastest laps of the race show this)

          Politics are much less with Withmarsh I’m sure of that. But I can understand ppl getting behind Jenson (or ppl thinking that the team is), because he’s a great guy. Very open and friendly (Reporters love him).
          But At Mclaren they know that Lewis is probably the biggest talent around.
          He could be leading the Championship with some margin!

          1. You people simply amaze me. F1 is a sport we obviously all love and I have absolutely no idea what on earth gives certain posters the desire, or right, to point fingers at people in the business – dreaming up conspiracy theories, leaning extremely on one side of the argument without providing any reason or evidence. Pretty much none of us know the people in the teams, how they work, the relationships OR policies (I could go on…).

            I think the media has got way too into some people’s heads and these so called fans ought to start enjoying the sport!

    2. Reading between the lines I think this has really gotten to Hamilton. He was ‘surprised’ enough not to enjoy the win, at least not immediately after the race.
      As I posted on one of the other articles though, given how Button slowed down so dramatically after Hamilton re-passed him, could he have even finished if he’d kept the position then kept Hamilton behind?

      1. He was suprised because he thought Jenson was saving fuel aswell as him, not because jenson had the agression to pull off a good move.

      2. You are right. He looked very miserable for someone who had just won a race

        1. Almost like Alonso at Singapore a couple years back! :P

          Sorry couldn’t resist. Pleast nobody start another argument ;)

    3. Well, did anyone catch what Button said to Hamilton in the room before the podium ceremony? He said “I was told….”

      1. Hamilton seemed very confused that Button had not had the same instructions to slow down as him. The reason for this is debatable. Perhaps Hamilton slowed down too much before finding a comfortable pace, and it was enough for Button to catch him and consider passing. Perhaps Button was told to hold back early in the race while the top 3 struggled, which was why he was in touch but not piling on pressure, and by the end he was able to afford some extra pace to attempt a pass. Perhaps there was general confusion from both parties about how much to slow down. Whatever the reason, I can’t imagine it is the ridiculousness that some have suggested, that Hamilton was told to slow down and Button not told this so as to give a win to Button. Regardless of any imagined driver preferance in a team (not that their would be any at such an early point in the season) this is clearly ridiculous, as it would put your drivers on for a potential collision, would strain relations and would simply make no sense after ‘manufacturing’ a driver (Hamilton) for over 10 years. Anyway, I imagine that Hamilton was trying to work out the reason why Button was close enough to pass.

        1. Maybe it’s because Hamilton of hamiltons driving style and he just used up more fuel and had to slow down a little early. There are a million good reasons, anyone who believes this is all a McLaren conspiracy against someone they have supported for years probably also believes in contrails!

          I just hope Hamilton is not as naive as some of his fans, because if he starts to believe this stuff it could effect his racing.

          1. Rubbish, did you not hear the radio transmission? It clearly said “save fuel, BOTH CARS ARE THE SAME”, which totally contradicts what you have just said.

            1. Just because Hamilton was told that does not mean Button was told the same thing. Did you hear the message to Button’s radio? NO you didn’t.

            2. In fact Hamilton stated that he was given a target time (which he felt was set too slow) and Button explained that he had NOT received a target time. Button only got a “save fuel” statement which he took as a warning not to overly waste fuel, but keep racing nonetheless.

        2. Jhonnie Siggie
          31st May 2010, 18:30

          Hamilton disses Mansell for his “manufactured” comment http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/236097/hamilton-responds-to-mansell-manufactured-comments/ and quite rightly so. Mansell should at least have gotten his facts right before he tried to discredit Lewis

      2. Something kicked off in the doorway the moment Hamilton and Button were about to step out to the podium – Button said something to Hamilton, Hamilton stopped and said something like “No, no, no” then it appeared Button had to explain himself and reassure Hamilton.

        This looked very strange and I got the impression something Jenson said had angered Hamilton. There was some disagreement. Lewis couldn’t mask it on the podium as the flags were raised, but eventually composed himself for the champagne and press photos.

        Even in the press conference something was amiss in Lewis’ demeanour, beneath the routine corporate speak.

        The whole episode look to me very similar to what happened at Red Bull, a clash of egos, but without the disastrous results.

        1. I would love to know what was discussed in the podium waiting area, as Crom says something was definitely amiss and Hamilton was not too chuffed on the podium, I also thought both drivers were a bit overly thoughtful in the press conference.

          1. I think I’ve managed to decipher what was going on:

            Before the podium and in the press conference Lewis was saying to Webber that Vettel had pulled the same sort of shenanigans with him.

            I think in their little chat before the podium, Jenson thought Lewis was talking about him and their little tussle and so started to explain that he hadn’t done anything untoward to catch Lewis up. Then Lewis told him he was talking about Vettel and also realised they were being listened to. When they got to the door I think Jenson wanted to clear things up anyway that he hadn’t done anything untoward to catch Lewis.

            That’s what it sounds like to me anyway.

            1. I think the reason Lewis didn’t look that happy was because after Jenson had told him that, he was a bit concerned that after the team had told him that they were effectively going to hold station for the rest of the race, Jenson had caught him. Which is understandable, especially given a few recent events, although I can’t seriously believe McLaren would purposefully engineer that sort of situation.

            2. Cool bit of deciphering!

            3. @TomD11: I was puzzled when one of Hamilton’s engineers came on the radio to tell Hamilton “both cars are the same”. There was no context, but I wonder whether he was talking about the Red Bulls (which were yet to press the self-destruct button at that point), or about the McLarens (which would indicate some doubt about the issue on Lewis’ part).

            4. @Osiris: I took that message to be about the McLarens and that they were tellig Lewis both cars had the same fuel issue or something along those lines and so he didn’t have to worry about Jenson coming at him. I just think somehow they were given different target lap times by the team and that’s what allowed Jenson to catch him after the Red Bulls took each other out.
              Perhaps the reason they had to tell him was from the splits or something Lewis could see that Jenson was catching him. Of course I could be completely wrong.

            5. osiris- of course there was context. Lewis you need to save fuel; both cars are the same (meaning your car and Jensons both need to slow equally to save fuel

            6. Yeah that sounds and looks about right. Nice work TomD1

    4. keith i think you should also include the fastest lap of each driver in the table.

      1. For the race? There’s no point, it’s more a reflection of whether a driver was still pushing at the end of the race than how fast they were.

        It might be worth adding a “fastest lap of the weekend” line, though.

    5. i think ‘u need to conserve fuel’ from mclaran is the same as ‘u need to slow and allow the other driver to pass’ from ferrari, different words but same intentions, but since words speak more and intentions or meanings gets lost in air, schumi and ferrari are dark red horses while macca is a symbol of purity.. damn…

      1. Well, what words do you use to say ” you need to conserve fuel” then ???

        1. Well, “Slow and let the other driver pass”, obviously! :)

      2. I do believe they needed to save fuel, as Webber needed to do this aswell (he got the same message). So It sure sounds real to me!

    6. Prisoner Monkeys
      31st May 2010, 3:11

      Lewis, if you were surprised by Button’s move, you should probably wake up a little bit. There’s a reason why Button has a reputation as one of the best overtakers in the field, and the way he moved you off-line for turn thirteen is proof enough of that.

      1. Button has a reputation as one of the best overtakers in the field in your mind maybe …. I don’t think he impressed that much … especially compared to Hamilton…

        1. RandomChimp
          31st May 2010, 8:59

          “in your mind maybe”

          Perhaps you missed the whole of last season?

        2. spanish senora
          31st May 2010, 13:43

          I think JB is a bit of an opportunist driver and his overtaking has only improved since he became LH ‘s team mate.

      2. The only time Button ever pulled off some decent overtaking was in 2009 when he had a rocket for a car. Hamilton has proving several times that he can pass a car in front of him, and when Button is about to pass the same car, he can’t get past.

        1. Hamilton has proved*

        2. From that comment I can only assume you’ve been watching F1 only since Hamiltons arrival in ’07 when Honda were parading a complete dog of a car.

          Up until then, from 2000, and repeated last year, Button was one of the best overtakers on the grid, often seen sending one up the inside of Schumacher, Alonso, Villeneuve (not exactly hard that one), Montoya, Kimi… you name it, he did everyone at some point in those seasons.

          1. Verstappen, Brazil 2000 sticks in my mind.

      3. Dude, what planet are you on? Button has the reputation as one of the best overtaker? You having a laff?

      4. LOL you are funny. Button has a reputation for being the best overtakers in the field???

        Which Formula 1 are you watching???

        1. Prisoner Monkeys
          31st May 2010, 11:20

          Formula 1 pre-2007. That Formula 1.

          1. What are you talking about PM?
            He was surprised Jenson made a move because he was told by his race engineer that both cars had fuel issues, not because of his ability….! We all heard it, and Brundle commented on it. If you listened to his on-board after that then you must of heard him taking tons of revs off his upshifts and short shifting through the slower corners.

            We all know what JB is capable of most of all Lewis.

            I believe that it was one of those “do i, dont i” moments for JB and his racers instinct probably took over without thinking about the awkward post-race de-brief if he had made it stick.

            As for Lewis “waking up”. I think he was wide awake when he threw it up the inside of turn 1..

      5. @Prisiner Monkeys – Your statement is surely a wind up …isnt it?

        1. Another guy who missed the 2009 season, and all of Button’s key overtakings…

        2. Oh, and the 2000-2006 seasons, where Button extracted quite a lot (and raced well) in average cars.

    7. now heard it all–Button One of the best overtakers!!!!

    8. Maybe Lewis was “surprised” because McLaren messed up his pit stop and put him behind Vettel; Or maybe because he was the guy obligated to put pressure on Red Bulls until they self destruct while Jenson saved his tyres to attack him in the lasts laps; or maybe because McLaren told him to safe fuel three laps before Jenson, who use the extra power to attack him:

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8713859.stm
      (First minute on this interview)

      What we heard live in the TV was that BOTH had to save fuel at the same time — and Lewis had the same impression. So, maybe someone gave him misleading info from the pits…

      There something wrong with the way McLaren is managing the races strategy of their drivers this year.

      I´m “surprised”…

      1. “Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.”

        Recap please!

      2. Isn’t it enough of a surprise to be told that both cars are in save fuel mode and when you stick to the target time they give you, your team mate is obviously NOT sticking to this same target time?

        I find it incredibly surprising that they give one driver a target time to slow down to and the other driver not.

        1. Forgive me if i’m wrong, but surely we only know what was broadcasted, or has been shown to the public?

          Also, all the target time and fuel messages could well be codes, again, something we don’t know.

    9. Jhonnie siggie
      31st May 2010, 4:19

      Number of races attended by Nicole=1.
      Number of races missed by Nicole=6.
      Number of wins by Lewis=1.
      Number of races won by Lewis with Nicole absent=0.
      Verdict=strong correlation between Nicole’s presence and Lewis winning races. Bring her to Canada Lewis :)

      1. No, Lewis please don’t bring her. Not if it means another gridwalk with her

      2. Yes please.
        Bring her to Canada

      3. This was the biggest FFS!! moment (and there were 2 of them) during the whole coverage… god, was she annoying… it was like, how dumb could someone get… who cares what she thinks, lets talk to someone interesting.

        …and then to butt in on EJ, DC & Jake to say what!?!… err, GO AWAY!!!

      4. Yes bring her to Canada – she enlivens the grid walk!!! And is your good luck charm.

        1. She is hot and kinda puts eveything into perspective.. Here we are all drumming along about F1 politics and this and that and there is a hot girl standing there, and suddenly it dawns on you… What the hell am I doing argueing about this when there is a hot girl there…

          I think having her there helps Lewis focus on what is important and let other things go by.

          1. I believe I recall Brundle asking her who she was backing in the race, during his walk on the grid. Does anyone else remember her holding up her arms in the air and answering, gleefully, ‘ENGLAND!! YEAH’

            :P

    10. I had my heart it was DEJA VU this time with the Silver car. There were some tension between them as they came to the green room before the podium celebration.But I think they will be OK but not the Red Bulls.

      How it would have been to see Nico fighting Schumacher & Alonso on Massa on the closing stages of the race?

      1. I wonder whether the word ‘SAVE FUEL’ were the coded word for both Hamilton & Button that both of them should follow team orders?

    11. Marc Connell
      31st May 2010, 7:27

      i wish there was more clean fights like this between teams. Yes i like mistakes but i hate it when its between 2 team members fighting to take the championship. Not directed at anyone.

    12. David Johnson
      31st May 2010, 7:37

      I’m “surprised” that everyone is trying sooo hard to put a negative slant on hamilton for yesterdays event…the guy raced his pants off the whole race…how close was hamilton to webber in comparison to button to vettel…he might of actually won the race had he not had a problem in the pits…gets vettel going off line in the wrong direction of the next corner when he tried to overtake… then he has to fend off an opportunistic move on him by a team mates thats been plodding along all race…all this off the back of a british racing icon slaging him off…I reckon thats enough to make any young man world champ or not, confused, a bit down and a bit “suprised”…don’t cha !!!

      1. Agree with you 100%. Strange things going on at Macca. First his botched pit stop gifting Vettel the jump on him and then mis-informing him to allow Jenson thru. Strange, very Strange indeed.

        1. Not strange – blatant favouritism. Lewis has just woken up and smelt the coffee and is working out in his mind how to handle it. He has been used to prejudice all his life, and is a strong person so hopefully this won’t break him.

          1. prove it, in all seriousness, please. What “facts” are you basing this on? And are your interpretations of these “facts” correct?, or is it a case of, if you squint your eyes enough (or even close them in this case), you see what you want.?

            This should not be difficult, as it is “blatant favourtisim” no??

            1. Whitmarsh is obviously more in favour of Button than he is of Hamilton. The way he keeps talking about Hamilton if he is some petulant child and when he talks about Button as if he’s some mythical racing god.

              Though I doubt that they would actually be that dumb to try to help Button to win races over Hamilton. Hamilton simply got unlucky and Button had a few good gambles. Also, Button has had his share of bad pitstops too. The pit crew at McLaren simply seems to be struggling as does their strategic department.

              How on earth they failed to get Hamilton in at the same time as Vettel is beyond me. Kravitz claimed that Red Bull came out and pitted Vettel when they saw the McLaren crew come out. Yet they failed to call Hamilton in on time?

            2. again, pat, your definition of the word obvious is different to mine.

            3. Well maybe you are simply less observant :)

              To me it’s quite obvious.

          2. Dude I’m beginning to think you ARE Lewis Hamilton.

    13. martin bell
      31st May 2010, 9:18

      I’m sure that the ‘fuel saving’ debate will run and run, but isn’t it possible that Mclaren went marginal on fuel in order to get close to the Red Bulls in qualifying, now that track position is everything? They simply had to be ahead of the Mercs on the grid. If one of the Mclarens had come out of turn one in first place, then this would have paid off, allowing them to control the race pace, and fuel consumption, thereafter. Plan B seems to have been to push RB as hard as possible, knowing they had some reliabilty issues, and then worry about fuel. Lucky for them, ‘brain fade’ intervened. Perhaps Mclaren are just trying to cover all bases, knowing that they don’t yet have the fastest car?

      1. In a word. No.

        All cars qualify with the bare minimum, they are then filled up for the race with as much fuel as their engineers think they will need. They apparantly used more than expected as they didn’t expect to be actually racing the Red Bulls for the whole race

        1. But, “as much fuel as their engineers think that they will need” is a strategic choice, one of the few available this season. Where did you get the idea that they didn’t expect to be racing the Red Bulls? I was positing a theory, not stating my opinion as fact. I may, however, have not expressed what I meant very well!!!

          1. What I meant was they didn’t expect to be pushing the Red Bulls for every lap of the race until they crashed out. They will have assumed they will either get past or cruise behind, as it was Lewis was pushing like made to try and get past Web/Vet for 41 laps, which is probably about 30 more than they thought he’d be going at full chat for!

    14. RandomChimp
      31st May 2010, 9:42

      I thought Jenson had been told to save fuel before the tussle with Lewis, and I took that to be code for “don’t attack”, which disappointed me a little. Perhaps my memory fails me.

    15. I think the info they got was understood diferently by the drivers save fuel for hami was take it easy til the end anbd dnt worry button is also on the save fuel option so he wnt try to overtake…while button understood it to mean save fuel but still race to the end even overtakin lewis if u can

    16. I think many seem to miss the obvious in the whole Hamilton vs Button saga – simply, its not McLaren favouring button its the current rules as a whole, and the fact that the “best driver” is relative to current rules.

      In my view… Hamilton is faster on a single lap, but over a race under the CURRENT RULES, Button looks a better all round driver.

      Being fastest on a lap does not make you the best driver in F1.

      If the rules were to change then the “best driver” may change, even if no-one gets better or worse.

      1. @MM: How do “the current rules” translate into Button receiving a “conserve fuel” instruction 3 laps later than Hamilton, especially since (as the Red Bull radio confirmed) both cars were “short on fuel”?
        If you are going to fly Button’s banner, just do so openly – don’t hide behind “it’s the rules”.

        1. Hamilton had his engine turned up in the early part of the race trying to overtake Webber. Button made no real attempt to get past Vettel, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d used less fuel.

        2. Red Bull radio confirmed? – they certainly know less about the McLarens, than McLaren do – and both being short on fuel does not equal them being equally short on fuel. Hamiltons constant attempts to overtake and sitting on the rear of the RedBulls would almost certainly have used his fuel up much faster, so it would be completely logical for them to instruct button later.

          ps. I’m a Hamilton fan over Jeson anyday FYI. – I’m fed up with the moaning of people which effectively goes on the back of Hamilton as a driver.

      2. Well I don’t really think that’s true, in all the dry races so far Lewis has beaten Jenson (apart from Spain of course, for obvious reasons). Admittedly you could say it’s partly down to qualifying but that’s a key part of the race weekend.

      3. Really? Where did you get this stat from? You may want to look again at the average lap speed for all the races so far. You will see that Lewis is ahead of Jensen in all but 2 races this year.

    17. I was pretty sure there was contact between the two during Hamilton’s retaking of the lead. And then Button was half a second slower. Did anyone else notice that?

      1. I think that everyone who watched the race noticed that, so what is the point you are trying to make?

        1. Well I think the point he was trying to make was whether that contact damaged Jenson’s car and caused him to go more slowly.

          I think it’s more a case of the team telling them both to just back off and conserve their cars. It didn’t look like there was any damage done.

          1. Yes, that’s my point. With Button being better at preserving his tyres, generally, and not having been the one pressuring the Red Bulls for most of the race, I would think it plausible that he could have taken the lead towards the end of the race, but for team orders and, I suspect, a little damage to his front wing.

            I could be completely wrong, it’s just conjecture.

    18. It’s clear that Button, though under instructions to conserve fuel, chose to take the chance to sneak up on an unwary Hamilton – hoping to take the flag.
      But the McLaren garage is beginning to sound dishonest: it appears that there are cases where Button has information that Hamilton does not have. This seems to have played a part in Button “making” the right calls regarding tyres in previous races: I recall Hamilton being ordered to pit in a previous race, and him wondering out aloud on radio, “whose freaking idea was that?”. I also recall Hamilton’s team ordering him to slow down in Monaco, and him asking “Do you guys want me to race or what?”. And then the very suspicious puncture when Lewis was out front and all alone.
      Finally, the Turkey race seemed to confirm these suspicions – McLaren seem determined to hand races to Button by ensuring Hamilton’s car cannot race, one way or the other. Come next season, Hamilton would be well advised to find a new team – McLaren now, clearly, belongs to Button. What a shame.

      1. Remembering only the times things have favoured button hardly makes for a all rounded argument. If anything it makes you appear to believe they should side with Hamilton over Button.

        Often top teams do split strategy calls where one car does one option and another does another option. In these instances every time Hamilton gets the aggressive drive strategy with fresh tyres and Button gets the keep your tyres and last longer strategy – anyone who wants to argue that’s the wrong way round must know little about F1.

        1. @MM: I would love to hear of an occasion when Button has deferred to Hamilton on team “orders”. And Button does not get the “aggressive” role because, as Schumacher has shown twice now, Button doesn’t do aggressive. That might be a strategy – it certainly could have worked in Turkey. But I dont pay money to watch that.
          And no – anyone who has a different opinion to yours is not automatically an F1 greenhorn. You’d be surprised.

          1. It doesn’t matter what you pay to watch, or want to watch, how they race is up to them.

            I’d love to hear of an occasion when Hamilton has deferred to Button on team orders?

            Im not saying people with different opinions are “F1 greenhorns”, what I said is what the F1 community commonly accept and that is Hamilton is a more aggressive driver than Button, and so my opinion was really stating that its completely logical for Hamilton to pit for fresher tyres and keep Button out if the team have decided they are going to split the strategy.

            I could understand people arguing that they shouldn’t have split the strategy, but that doesn’t seem to be what anybody moans about, people seem to suggest that they are deliberately giving Hamilton the “wrong” strategy.

      2. Around this time last season, I feel that something changed in the Mclaren camp. Before that, it seemed unimaginable that Hamilton would ever drive for any other team. Wouldn’t you want to see that happen someday, to see how he would perform in a team that wasn’t entirely built around him? There is a certain fascination with watching Alonso struggle this year, and seeing how he copes with that. There is no conspiracy going on at Mclaren, just Lewis finding out that he’s not at the centre of the universe, something we all do at some time in our lives.
        F1 drivers,unfortunately, have to do it public.
        Remember the old joke; “Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be racing driver.”
        “You can’t do both, son.”

      3. McLaren seem determined to hand races to Button by ensuring Hamilton’s car cannot race, one way or the other. Come next season, Hamilton would be well advised to find a new team – McLaren now, clearly, belongs to Button. What a shame.

        Have you forgotten Button’s dash failing at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix? And a piece being left in his radiator at Monaco ending his race pretty much straight away?

        1. Agree, though i have to admit something does seem strange. I can’t be sure what but it does seem to be to Hamilton’s detriment. But yeah, people do seem to be explaining Hamiltons misfortune with conspiracy, whilst overlooking Button’s as merely bad luck.

      4. While agreeing that the team have made some doubtful decisions with regard to Lewis this season I still am reluctant to believe they would risk team points to favour Jenson at this stage.

        However I found the team engineers statement that “both drivers were given the same lap time targets and Jenson managed to close up on Lewis” very confusing. In issuing the ‘same lap time’ instruction the team clearly intended that the cars would hold station. It is unlikely that Hamilton would have been unable to meet the slower time so how did Button close up if he was following the instruction and observing the same lap time?

        Lewis said afterwards that he had been “given too slow a time” so there may have been an engineers mistake. If not, then it would seem that Jenson was indulging in rather unsporting opportunism, which I would rather not believe.

    19. Button had been sitting pretty in 4th just biding his time, conserving tyres and saving fuel, but the pace of the fight at the front was so hectic that they were all marginal by the end.

      I believe Button had more fuel then Hamilton by the end and the move was simply that he was able to run faster, Hamilton didn’t expect it as they were “fuel saving”, but Button had been doing that since the first pit stop and obviously was not as marginal.

      After that lap Button dropped off and held station behind Hamilton, simply because the team had made it clear they were not to race… “fuel critical” = “team orders” by another name.

      No problem with that, its not preferential treatment, just the team stroking it home for a 1-2. Just a shame Button didn’t wait until turn one to take Hamilton, less chance of Lewis coming back at him straight away.

      1. Another Button fanboy :( , if Button had succeeded in his sneaky move to win the race, people like you would hail him for his “intellingence” (doh) But now that he failed woefully you construct a myth around hie average driving.

        LH watch your back at McLaren as from now!!

        1. BBQ2, you’re wrong on all counts.

          1. Well you are obviously wrong too.

            Hamilton was told to drive to a target laptime. So he does that and to his amazement he finds out thet Button does not have this target lap time. When in fact they told Hamilton over the radio that Button also was saving fuel.

            Either his engineer is incompetent or there is a conspiracy going on. Either way you cannot fault Hamilton for being taken when he’s expecting not to be attacked when trying to save fuel nursing the car home with a 30 second lead …

            1. “either his engineer is incompetent or there is a conspiracy going on”

              Oh really????? this is the only, the only, explanation???

              How do you know that button did not have a target laptime? Are all radio communications broadcast to the Public?? -no

              Did button hang back from hamilton and the redbulls throughout the race and thus ensuring the very reasonable possibility that he had more fuel hamilton and better tyres? – yes

              Did you not hear them tell button to save fuel well before this whole “conspiracy” was suppose to take place? to use the very popular word at the moment “obviously”

              Could of button, with a slightly less critical fuel situation simply catch button, and then the competitive instincts of people who have had to compete for every step of the way to simply get to F1 take over? and hence he saw an opportunity and took that opportunity.

              Hamiloton did not look happy on the podium, and even admitted as much in a post race interview. This has been claimed as “evidence” of a conspiracy. Well that is a very, very low threshold of evidence. Here is a much more reasonable, and likely, explanation:
              Hamilton went through the whole Alonso “situation” before. This would have been incredibly stressful for all the team – Hamilton, Alonso, Denis, Whitmarsh etc. There were a lot of pundits predicting that Button was entering the “lions den, lewis’s team” he is going to get thrashed like no tomorrow. Some very famous people, who’s opinion frankly carries more weight than the collective opinions of us, such as the great and overall legend Jackie Stewart, publicly said the Button going to Mclaren was a mistake. Well so far, it has not been. Button has out performed a lot of peoples expectations. In fact- he is leading him in the championship at the moment.
              Button is no pushover. He joined a team when everyone said don’t go there. He is also no afraid to do a move on his teammate when he is leading the race close to the end. Hamilton has a sense of deja vu, a tough fight with a tough teammate and hence the reservation on the podium. He knows how tough it was last time.

            2. Button said he didn’t get a laptime. Just a generic message that he needs to conserve a bit of fuel

              It’s in the post race press conference.

            3. So a specific lap time to save fuel vs. a generic message to save fuel. Wow – that’s a slam dunk.

      2. This is what I think it happened, too, although I’m glad that Hamilton took the flag. He kind of deserved it…

      3. This is becoming more like a Prost/Senna situation every race as far as I can see: all the armchair ‘experts’ declaring how Button(Prost) is sneaky or underhand because he drives thoughtfully and often unspectacularly, except when he needs to, while Senna(Hamilton) is the etroverted aggresive driver who of course must be the fastest and the winner out of the two, unless of course the team are going behind his back to sabotage him. Prost(Button) is ‘boring’ because he doesn’t overdrive or ruin a set of tyres while Senna(Hamilton) will go on a charge from the back of the grid into the points.

        All the conspiracy theorists need to grow up a bit, and have a think about why a team would develop a driver for ten years only to hire someone else and wreck their efforts because they are racist?! But of course, Button’s radiator in Monaco was just a smokescreen, wasn’t it? Give me strength…

        1. “All the conspiracy theorists need to grow up a bit, and have a think about why a team would develop a driver for ten years only to hire someone else and wreck their efforts because they are racist?!”

          Thank you, this is what i’ve been trying to tell the fanboys.

    20. Several comments have been removed from this thread. Insults are not allowed: F1Fanatic Comment Policy

    21. Last year we had a rule that meant each drivers starting fuel load was monitored and declared by the FIA – I think there is now a place for a rule stipulating that finishing fuel amounts have to be declared – I do not subscribe to the fact that the TEAM must come first – this is a mistake that F1 has been making for some time – FANS should come first and I suspect that “conserve fuel instructions” are replacing the rightly banned “Team Orders” to stop team mates racing and the fans are missing out on exciting fighting finishes.

      With the re-fuelling ban in place the whole race is now a different type of strategy game – but what is the point of an intelligent Driver/Engineer combination taking the decision to drive smartly a little early on to conserve tyres / fuel so they can attack later when their rivals – be they in competitor teams or team mates – are most vulnerable if they haven’t followed the same strategy.

      Using the “save fuel card” stinks of TEAM ORDERS to me & the FIA have the ability, should have the nuts & need to stamp it out now !

      I guarantee you both Button & Webber will be looking at the “fuel left” data very closely after this race – we as fans should also be privvy to that info too.

    22. Finally, would love to know the reaction if after clearly hearing the instruction that BOTH CARS should reduce their lap times and save fuel, and Hamilton was behind Button and then sneaked up and overtook him. There would be a lot bigger furore than you are seeing now – all the Hamilton-haters would come out of the woodwork and pile in.

      1. You keep saying McLaren favour Button and you still haven’t posted any proof, just more conjecture.

        1. Keith, what is your opinion on this issue?
          The facts are uncomfortable –

          (1)Lewis told to save fuel, but more importantly, “both car are the same”. Everyone takes this to mean – Hold station, no need to trace anymore” He starts to cruise. Lap times confirms this.
          (2)Jenson catches Lewis, and overtakes.
          (3)Lewis, unsurprisingly is shocked, and calls this move “unexpected”.He fights back for the place.
          (3)Pit radio then tells Jenson he is “fuel critical” and to save fuel – Though this may have been a delayed transmission.
          (4) Jenson seems to back off.
          (5)Engineers confirm Jenson and Lewis given identical lap times – If correct, none would be going slower than the other.
          (6)Lewis says he was given a slightly “slower” lap time.
          (7)Jenson says he was saving fuel “almost” from the beginning of the race

          The question is – (1)what is going on? If they were supposed to be saving fuel, then their lap times generally contradict this. They also contradict Jenson’s assertion that he was saving fuel from the beginning.(2)If they were “both the same”, then why did Jenson overtake? (3) If they were give identical lap times, then why was Lewis Slower, and Jenson faster? (4)Why did Lewis claim he was given a slightly slower lap time?

          These are all valid questions, and in the absence of clear, concise answers, it is not surprising people allege a conspiracy, especially given some marginal strategy calls for Lewis by Macca this year.

          1. Honestly, I don’t believe we know the half of what happened here.

            We know that not everything that gets said to the drivers (of any team) is broadcast on television, and it doesn’t come out in real-time either.

            I suspect ‘fuel saving’ served two purposes – first, actual fuel saving which they needed to do to get to the end of the race. And second, as a means of controlling the drivers to stop them racing for position and risking a crash.

            But we’ve seen McLaren make quite a few mistakes this year on both sides of their garage – Hamilton’s strategy in Australia, not getting the cars out early enough in qualifying in Malaysia, Button’s radiator cover in Monaco…

            I don’t think there’s a pattern to those mistakes which suggests a conspiracy.

            1. Did you miss the bit about the target time in the post race interviews?

        2. He doesn’t say that McLaren favour Button. Not in this post anyway.

          Hamilton and Button clearly said on TV that Hamilton had gotten a target time and Button not.

          During the race we clearly heard them tell Hamilton that both cars were supposed to be saving fuel.

          You seriously don’t find that odd?

          Now imagine if Button was the one saving fuel and Hamilton stuck it to him. I’m pretty sure you’d have a lot more cleaning up to do about people cursing at Hamilton.

    23. Whitmarsh clearly would like Button to win the championship, Not because he is a blonde English man, but more because he wants to come out of Ron Dennis’ shadow. This I said very early on in the season.

      Hamilton was R. Dennis’ achievement and world champion, M. Whitmarsh just wants his own legacy. It doesn’t have anything to do with the colour of his skin.
      The hatred for Hamilton by some F1 fans has more to do with the colour of his skin than his nationality or ability.

      1. Again, do you have any proof?

        1. No need for proofs in obvious situations like; Brazil 07, China 07, Spa 08 etc, what more evidence do you need? A plucked-out eye on your palms? :-(

          1. How on earth do “Brazil 07, China 07, Spa 08” prove that “Whitmarsh clearly would like Button to win the championship”?

            1. I’m trying to work that one out too!

            2. Jhonnie Siggie
              31st May 2010, 18:36

              Haha this was funny to read :)

        2. I didn’t say Whitmarsh would like Button to win the championship, as if to imply he didn’t want Hamilton to win the race.
          I am simply saying that Whitmarsh wants his own legacy at Mclaren. He didn’t sign Button for him to be a number 2 driver. He signed him up because he feels Button can win the championship for the team. And has ensured that he Button gets very equal treatment as Hamilton, even if it means Hamilton having to get acquainted with new engineers, removing one area of familiarity that would have been beneficial to an established driver within a team.

          Don’t get me wrong, I am not falling for that blonde hair or blue eyes stuff, just the reality of every manager wanting to make his own mark within the company.

          Hamilton was old Mclaren, Dennis’ Mclaren. Button is new Mclaren, Whitmarsh’s Mclaren.

          1. I agree with this and the demand for proof misapprehends the theory here. I think its fair to suggest that MW knows that as long as Hamilton is in the team, it’s still Ron Dennis’ team. Hamilton is Dennis undeniable legacy. Proof, if you like: Whitmarshes comments that China presented a similar difficulty in strategy to Turkey. What is the difficulty? Well, its in controlling Hamilton. If there were another lap or two, Whitmarsh would have been powerless to have Hamilton hold station in favor of a floundering Button. Just as he was powerless to prevent the insane and stupid scrap between the drivers in Turkey. This will come to a head soon and Whitmarsh saw in the RBR disaster what awaits him if he cannot organize a team of his own design with drivers beholden to him.

    24. It looks from the lap times like Lewis made a mistake and backed off too much from his target laptime, which is what allowed JB to close up and have a go at overtaking. All Lewis’ previous laps were mid 1:30s as were JB’s. Then on lap 48 Lewis backed right off to a 1:33. After this they were both back in the 1:30s and 1:31s until the end of the race.

    25. Listen, race has nothing to do with it, just elements of favouritism, the calls been made towards hamilton by the team when he is challenging for a win, when Button is challenging as well, seem to go Buttons way.

      If they think Hamilton will sit there and play second fiddle to Button, Whitmarsh has got it wrong. Well, Mclaren, you have now unleashed the road warrior, he will now just look out for himself, I just can’t see Button carrying the team to victory on his own.

      Hamilton, needs a manager to watch his back, if this carry’s on Hamilton will be off

    26. Jenson was saving fuel from lap 20 in a more modest fasion, Hamilton started saving “3 laps before” the overtake(delayed message shown on lap 44) – and thus had a more aggressive fuel saving target.

      Jenson was surprised with Lewis going quite so slow, and did what any racer would have done and taken advantage of the situation.

      Both cars were saving fuel at that point, but Lewis much more agressively hence the lower speeds – perhaps he didn’t expect Jenson to go for an overtake, but if it was anyone other than his team mate he would have had to push harder.

      After Jenson got past, Lewis retook the lead, and then they were both told emphatically to save fuel or the situation would be critical – this is the more obvious ‘back off, hold station’ order.

      There are a few ways to read the situation:

      1:McLaren slowed Lewis to benefit Buttons attempt at an overtake.

      2:McLaren slowed Jenson after Lewis retook position, even though Jenson wasn’t quite as critical on fuel as Lewis, to ensure both cars finish without taking each other out. Benefits Lewis.

      3:Differing fuel saving strategies (Jensons more measured fuel saving throughout race versus Lewis’ more drastic saving towards the end) coming into play which afforded Jenson an extra push. Completely fair.

      Personally I believe it was a mix of option 3 leading to the pass, and option 2 after Lewis retook position to ensure the drivers don’t take each other out. No real bias, just a case of differing strategies playing out, then the team telling them to bring the cars home safely.

      Had Jenson made the overtake stick, I think he would have had the extra fuel to pull ahead slightly, but as he he couldn’t hold it, it wasn’t worth risking both him and Lewis finishing the race – he had his shot, then had to play the team game.

      1. At last a rounded and measured view which I subscribe to :) – although personally I’d still like to see them go hammer and tongs to the end come what may – it just doesn’t sit or feel right that we the FANS are being robbed of the excitement of a gladiatorial battle to the end and it seems more often than not are being forced to watch manipulated finishes – Senna & Villeneuve will be turning in their graves :(

      2. That seems a reasoned view. I also think it possible that Button experienced a little damage in the passing, as he was subsequently slower – though again, it could be just preserving his position in the knowledge he did not need to go quicker.

        1. Button was holding station 1 second behind Hamilton.

      3. Sure, it could have been that Button had more fuel left and that he could have raced harder than Hamilton.

        Indeed Hamiltonw as racing hard against Webber and Vettel and Button was just tagging along. He even gained an easy 2 seconds on Hamilton when the messed up Hamilton’s pitstop. It would have saved him a lot of fuel not having to make up that gap.

        The point is, if that was so, they should have told Hamilton he was racing Button. In fact thay didn’t and told Hamilton that Button was also saving fuel.

        There obviously was a failure in the communication to Hamilton or to Button.

        I’m going for

        4:the drivers weren’t properly informed of what was expected from them. Lewis was slowing down to a target time expecting Button to hold station and Button was under the impression that he was fine on fuel and could attack.

    27. What is this rubbish about McLaren supposedly being against Hamilton because of the colour of his skin? This is total B.S. …

      Can you imagine investing in someone’s career for so many years and signing them up on a long term contract in F1, just to turn around one day and say ‘hey let’s get rid of this guy because of his skin colour’…

      That’s a load of rubbish, come on!!! McLaren have got an excellent team with 2 great drivers who in my view really complement each other.

      1. Seconded. Bizarre to suggest McLaren are discriminating against Hamilton after investing millions in his career, bizarre that anyone could claim he’s less sponsor-friendly than Button (and so less favoured by the team) when he’s helped regalvanize F1’s image worldwide, bizarre that anyone could complain there’s a conspiracy against him inside McLaren when the team, for example, ‘sabotaged’ Button from the off at Monaco… Fact is that F1’s intense pressure means that all the teams make mistakes all the time (look at Ferrari) that undermine their drivers.

        1. Jhonnie Siggie
          1st June 2010, 4:01

          You have made some very good points

    28. It’s all a storm in a teacup. Hamilton was caught sleeping and yet he still retook the lead in less than half a lap. The way he then opened a gap suggests that neither of them were likely to run out of fuel then. The fuel conservation order was more caution on the part of Mclaren than anything. If the Red Bulls hadn’t gone off though fuel issues might have made things really hairy for all four cars.

    29. http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/18996.html

      Judging both Hamilton’s and Button’s comments after the race there was clearly some misunderstanding on Hamilton’s part about how much fuel he was supposed to save. I also read a post somewhere that Webber was also told to turn his engine down just before the clash with Vettel.
      To me the situation was that Mclaren didn’t think they would be so close to the Red Bulls on the race and Red Bull didn’t think they would be pushed by the Mclarens. As simple as that.

      1. Love the last line from Button:
        “It was a tough battle, but we didn’t touch and we still finished first and second, so that’s how you do it.”

    30. If McLaren are guilty of anything I believe they are guilty of not allowing the same mistakes to blight their season as it did in 2007. In that respect, who could blame them.
      You only have to look at what has happened at Red Bull to see that having too committed drivers in your ranks, can prove potentially disastrous if their ambitions are allowed to supercede those of the team.
      When Fernando Alonso joined McLaren, he had the coveted number one on his car and was the defending world champion. When he was obviously treated in away that affronted his achievements, by what he percieved as bias towards Hamilton, all hell broke lose. Of all people, Martin Whitmarsh saw first hand the damage this did to the team, and I believe is determined not to let the same thing happen again.
      Jenson Button is the defending world champion, if he is not dealt with in an even handed way and given a fair chance, in a team many claim is set up around his team mate, the vultures will soon flock down to pick over the bones of another McLaren debacle.
      Lewis Hamilton is a fine race car driver, and as he proved yesterday, is not short on the balls to take on and beat champion Button. For some to claim that recent events are based on racist bias is nothing short of retarded and lame.
      If racism is such a problem at McLaren, why hire Lewis Hamilton in the first place back in 2007? Why give him the opportunity to even fight then champion Fernando Alonso and upset him enough to inform the FIA of your teams underhand activities? Does not make sense, does it Holmes!

    31. There was definitely no “miscommunication, and i don’t thing Jenson pulled a sly one.

      McLaren deliberately slowed Lewis down with the “save fuel” and both cars are the same” instruction, whilst telling Jenson nothing at that point, so Jenson would overtake, and subsequently go on to win the race. i doubt Jenson was aware of the reason Lewis slowed down so much. He simply saw an opportunity. For all he knew, Lewis could have been nursing a problem. This seems to be verified later by Jenson actually slowing down, when told he was fuel critical.

      Though McLaren achieved a 1-2, they got it in the wrong order than they would have preferred. If Jenson had won, Macca would be leading both championships now by 5 points – which may prove crucial at the end of the season. A better place to be going to Canada. It makes sense to have a driver win, whose win elevates him to the top of the standings, than whose win only elevates him to 3rd in the standings.

    32. Who decides which snippets we get to hear on the TV anyway ?

      The edited bits we get to hear don’t paint the full picture and open up the potential for these conspiracy theories – with the technology available these days and if F1 really wants to get closer to the FANS then we should be able to tune into whichever team radios we want to and review them at our leisure at a later date if & when we want to – first and foremost the sport is there for us the FANS who have stuck by the sport through some pretty unsavoury episodes – so give us what we want.

    33. All of this speculation is nonsense in my opinion. From what i make of it, both drivers were ordered to save fuel and from this, Button decided to try and make a sneaky move and catch Hamilton unaware after he was under the impression that Button was having to do exactly the same as himself. Hamilton then quickly retook the lead and looked comfortable there. Ultimately, i feel this whole thing is just a simple misunderstanding that more than likely has been resolved, or is in the process of being resolved right now. Do i think Button was wrong for doing this? No, its racing, and i’m a Hamilton fan saying this.

      Claiming favouritism is pointless based on this season’s races. Both drivers have had calls, decisions and mistakes that have gone against them and then indirectly, aided the other driver.

      McLaren are fine in terms of driver relationship i feel. Red Bull on the other hand…

    34. The conspiracy theorists and Button-haters on this site are just sickening. I need to remember to just read the awesome editorial content and event coverage here on F1 Fanatic and just skip the comment section completely.

      Yes, I support Button. Why? Because he -isn’t- the absolute best all-out driver on the grid. It’s too easy to cheer for Vettel or Alonso or Hamilton. Where’s the fun in that?

      1. While your first comment I could not agree more with, your second is a little questionable:

        Supporting a driver because he “isn’t absolute best all-out driver on the grid” is a little strange, although what ever floats your boat I guess!

        I think many support certain drivers because of my own opinions, regardless of how ‘easy’ it is to cheer them on… well I’d like to hope so anyway!

    35. Conspiracy theories and reactionary replies to them aside…

      There’s one interesting parallel I can think of, which was the end of the San Marino Grand Prix when Pironi took the lead away from Villeneuve. Gilles’ reason for being angry? An order from the team telling them to SLOW.

      Someone yestersay (can’t remember your exact username but you have the legen – wait for it – dary Barney Stinson gravatar) made a comment about Button and Hamilton having shades of Pironi and Villeneuve. It was a very accurate observation, it seems!

    36. Button’s a great racer and a very quick guy. But I find it amusing that the proof that Button was better yesterday was precisely because he was behind Hamilton, except for after the fuel-saving instructions came in. Because he was lying in wait: he was scientifically preserving his tires and fuel, or something, working out super hard alegebra in his large brain. What exactly was he waiting for anyway—was he going to leap suddenly upon his teammate and then two RedBulls in the closing stages, with fresh-ish tires and loads of fuel, and pass them all on the track? Sounds like a brilliant plan to me. All weekend, he was not fully on par with the three cars ahead and that did not suddenly change on race day.

      Here is some news. The driver’s job is to try to win the race. That means getting out front, or putting the lead guy(s) under so much pressure they crack, while making sure you can hold your position if you don’t get ahead. Hamilton completed his mission. Vettel and arguably Webber failed the mission. And Jenson was out in the back of the lead pack doing his car preservation thing—until he saw an open handbag and thought he would have a reach in.

      1. This is just too funny. :-)
        Great post mate !!!

      2. DaveW – I also find that assertion ridiculous. If you look at the lap times between all 4, they were all doing 1:30’s, separated by tenths. There is no evidence of Jenson “scientifically preserving his tires and fuel”.
        Jenson fanboys have always used this in defence of Jensons inconsistent race pace. The question is – when has he ever used this so called skill of tyre preservation to hunt down anyone on the racetrack, and take a place? Absolute ********!

    37. In the post race press conference Button and Hamilton talked about the “save fuel” messages that they received.

      Hamilton:
      “They set a target for me lap time wise and I tried to stick to that. The target was definitely a bit too slow, so I was slowing down to keep that target and all of a sudden Jenson was right up my tail.”

      Button:
      “I don’t know. For about four or five laps beforehand they were saying you have to save fuel. They didn’t put a lap time on it. They just said you have got to save a bit of fuel.”

      An article in the Guardian gives an extra quote from Tim Goss (McLaren’s chief engineer):
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/may/30/lewis-hamilton-jenson-button-turkey

      Tim Goss:
      “We were running quite an aggressive fuel strategy to get good pace early in the race. We gave both drivers identical target lap times. And as you can see from the evidence Jenson managed to close on Lewis”

      The reality was that Hamilton was slowing down to achieve a “slow” laptime, while Button was not aware that he really needed to slow down.

      So there obviously is something wrong with communication there. Or someone is deaf or lying. Which also would count as communication problems I guess :)

      1. Very interesting PatrickL,

        The easiest way to save fuel is to turn down the engines or run a different engine map.
        As we know, we can achieve a very slow lap time by running at a very fast pace round the circuit, and coming to a stand still at the start finish line. That wont save much fuel would it.

        Anyhow, giving both drivers identical laptimes and Jenson being able to close on Lewis, doesn’t make sense.

        I just feel someone in the team decided to just try and sneak one past Lewis hoping, since they are pals after all, he would let it go. :-)
        But when Lewis fought back, Whitmarsh had premonition of expensive silver coloured carbon fiber all over the track and made frantic calls for them to save fuel

        1. I really doubt there was foul play involved from the team.

          It could be that Button decided not to see when he was told to slow down :)

          I doubt that too though. Probably just a mistake that Button’s engineer actually didn’t give Button a time or maybe Button isn’t familiar with the car yet. I assume this laptime is displayed on the dash. Which is where Webber received his engine mapping message.

    38. Maybe It is cause I am American and I started watching racing in NASCAR first. I just dont get the issue here. Vettle had a shot to lead and it did not work out and he and Webber spun. Then Button has a shot at Hamilton and goes for it. Well I am glad for it. This is about the win and who wants it. That is what racing is about. If you dont want two good drivers battling then get your one and find a guy who you tell him up front “you are # 2 and that is all you are”. I think this was a case of drivers going for the win and the rest is history. I know rule one is dont wreck your team mate, but hey it happens. This is racing anc racing is about winning. I feel this is also about showing us “hey I driving too”. Vettle and Hamilton were always looked at as the favoite but Button and Webber were thought to be second fiddle, guess that did not work out to my great suprise. Let them race and enjoy the show. IMO that is how you fix F1.

    39. One thing I was wondering about was the ride height issue (Button said he was bottoming during qualifying) and whether that would have been a reason to run Button a little lighter on fuel. He definitely was using less fuel during the race and “standing off” to be most efficient.

      People should remember that the driver controls the engine settings in the car.

      But I do think they clearly told Button not to attack after the incident, but they needed the points more than the risk of them getting together and I think that is all there is to it. And I’m one who thinks Button was faster this particular weekend and he shaded Lewis despite Lewis’s natural speed (maybe Lewis was adjusting his driving style a bit there as well due to his history on this track. But like last year I am becoming more and more impressed by Button.

      1. Were you watching the race weekend in chinese?
        Setting a faster lap than your team mate during the race doesn’t make you faster all weekend.
        At the time Button set his lap times, he had plenty of room ahead, Hamilton had only a small gap to Webber’s diffuser.

        1. I was watching sector times all through practice and qualifying as well as the race. No doubt following Lewis was hindered but if the both unleashed I saw more pace in Button. Not saying anything relative pace than that and couldn’t point to it in other races.

    40. just to add fire..
      early part of the race.. Was jenson not told to
      push/race vettel? NO. Seems like hamilton was left
      to fend for himself while jenson was to go on
      with his own race. Conserving & waiting to pounce,
      button cruises behind the three.. a decent gap..
      he didnt even came close to challenge vettel’s
      place on the first round of pitstop. If he were
      on the same pace as the three he couldve leap
      frog seb hence protected their position or even
      be infront..

      1. If you watched the race and followed live timing…

        Jensen was on the same pace as the first three.. he was saving his tyres because he knew he would not be allowed to pit before Lewis and jump him. So his only chance to get ahead was to do blinding laps while the others pitted. He set 2 fastest laps, but it still wasn’t enough.

        McLaren made a big mistake by not covering Webber’s pitstop and then Lewis lost his position to Vettel when they pitted together. Jensen got the worst end of the deal by pitting last of the top four.

        There was no way he could have leap frogged Vettel unless he pitted before him, but then he would have leap frogged Lewis too.

        1. Sorry – correction. Got the RBs pitstops wrong way.

          Meant to say McLaren mad a big mistake not covering Vettel’s stop allowing him to jump Lewis who stopped with Webber the following lap.

    41. F1 isn’t a team sport in terms of drivers, look at Schumacker, Alonso and Vettel and a long history of team mates coming together before this weekend. Priority 1 is winning, priority 2 is beating your team mate, priority 3 is making sure your team thinks you’re no1 and psych’ing out your team mate before you even take to the track, priority 4 is doing well for your team. Shame Lewis sacked his dad, the only one apart from possibly Ron Dennis that has his interest at heart, not surprising it’s a business and lots of people jobs depend on it. Hopefully he’ll put this behind him and get on with winning more races, it just part of life in F1 and good publicity. Don’t let people & outside incidents mess with your head lad.

    42. What really surprised me was how subdued Hamilton was after he got out of the car even though he had got his first win of the season.

      I thought it may have been because of Button overtaking him because we heard on the team radio that Hamilton had been told to slow to preserve fuel and that both cars had been told the same thing, so to suddenly see your teammate close and overtake you would be a surprise.

      1. I thought that it was because he started to think that the team may have deceived him that both drivers were told to save fuel when it was only him, but Button was trying to say that it was just that he got a run at him and had to go for it. And there seems to be confusion with Hamilton talking to Webber about Vettel and Button misinterpreting that conversation.

        The way I read the podium was that Webber understandably was annoyed that his team-mate cost him a win (from his point of view at least); Button was worried that Hamilton was going to think he tried to stab him in the back (note the effort Button went to on the podium to show Hamilton how happy he was for him getting the win) and possibly that the team would give him a carpeting for pulling off a risky overtake just after the Red Bulls crashed; and Hamilton had the thought in his head that his team mate (possibly with the approval of the team) tried to take him after being told to ‘save fuel’ (regardless of whether that is code for something else), and whether he needs to watch him from now on.

        A couple of coincidences can become very significant in a sensitive or paranoid mind, as they seem to have done on this comment thread!

    43. I think Hamilton will be the world champion this year and if he remains with at McLaren he will be champion again next year. Only another win will earn him real respect from Button and Button’s dad who is perhaps busy ‘optimising’ the team for his son.

      1. Unlike Anthony Hamilton (until recently), John Button is hands off his sons career – so I don’t see what your getting at.

    44. Great Ceasar’s Ghost!

      Such a plethora of conspiracy theories. Such a huge load of pap. It is apparent by their remarks that most of the people commenting on Button/McLaren/Hamilton are recent fans of F1. Without a longer history following the sport, one can get some skewed notions, I suppose.

      Prisoner Monkeys wasn’t winding anyone up. Button in the early 2000’s proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could overtake with the best of them, and wring an underperforming car’s neck to get the most out of it. The last couple of years before Honda pulled out, Button was in a dog of a car that didn’t have the power to pull itself out of it’s own tracks. In 2009 with Brawn, yes Button had the fastest car on the grid. And he made the best use of it, winning all he could before the other team’s developement caught up with Brawn.

      But it is true, Hamilton has experienced prejudice and favoritism. McLaren favored him from his first race in 2007, and made all sorts of prejudiced decisions with their second driver. And make no mistake, rookie or not, Hamilton was McLaren’s #1 driver for 2007 and beyond. They(Ron Dennis) had just spent 10 years and several million pounds bringing him from karting up through the lower classes, building a driver for the McLaren F1 car, of course he was treated as #1. And that’s why Alonso tossed the toys out the pram and gladly returned to Renault for 2008.

      By the way, for those of you knocking Mansell, Mansell was spot on with his remarks. I actually READ the newspaper interview–did you???–and nowhere did he slag Hamilton. He talked about his concerns over the type of system that brought Hamilton into F1, from such a young age and didn’t allow the boy to be a boy. Even Matrin Whitmarsh recently commented that Lewis had been an “experiment” by McLaren, that Lewis’ upbringing was artificial and probably hadn’t allowed him the best chance to develope as a whole person. (Maybe that is why Lewis is upset recently? And why is no one slagging Whitmarsh for those remarks?)

      And claiming anti-Hamilton conspiracy because Hamilton is described as an aggressive driver while Button is described as smooth. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, have you not been paying attention over the last 3 years? Hamilton IS aggressive, and hard on tyres and brakes. Any intelligent person who actually has seen all the races and followed the media race results and discussion realizes that.

      Oh, yes, the big Malaysia Qualy Conspiracy. Sent Button out early but not Hamilton. Got Button pole did it? No, sure didn’t. Both Button and Hamilton out in Q1. So where is the conspiracy there? Somehow it escapes me.

      Blond-haired Button preferred over black-skinned Hamilton? Please. McLaren’s F1 effort has a different dynamic now that Ron Dennis is gone from F1. No longer is Hamilton automatically favored and coddled over the second driver. This is the first year of his F1 career that Lewis actually has to compete with his team-mate. Something which evidently is taking him a bit to get used to.

      The Hamilton FanBoys need to go lay down and give their necks a rest. Facts just don’t support your claims. As to Button passing Lewis at Turkey, well, that could have been a missed communication, or it could have been Button ignoring what he was told. I won’t speculate beyond that. Without being privy to McLaren’s radio transmissions and without actually clearly hearing the total converstion between Lewis and Jenson on the way to the podium, further speculation is useless.

      1. thank you dsob, you summarised my thoughts much better than i had ben struggling to. Good observations, you are spot on imho.

      2. It is now established (see my post and link below) that the two McLaren drivers were given identical target lap times. Button is either lying about not hearing this, or there is astounding miscommunication going on in McLaren that is always favouring Button. I wonder if you would be so exasperated by the conspiracy theories if the situation had been reversed and Hamilton ignored lap time targets or lied.

        You seem fairly convinced of the “conspiracy theory” that Lewis was favoured in 2007 – or is it different when the negative connotations are re. Hamilton?

    45. Excellent post there DSOB…..cracking!!….spot on!!!

    46. p.s. especially your first point regarding how it’s easy to tell the ‘recent’ F1 fans from those with at least a decade of watching F1!!

    47. LooseCruze, I totally agree with and people that say where are the facts, you just look back on the past races and it plain to see, something is wrong at both the Mclaren & Redbull camp. An example of Whitmarsh strategies that has worked against Lewis and allows to Jenson to catch up, in the recent Turkish GP Mclaren decision to bring Lewis in, considering his pace and the fact that if he stays out longer he may have passed Webber. Issues with his pit stop allow Jenson to close the gap and at the time when Jenson try the move on Lewis he was set a time to achieve then all of a sudden Jenson was his tail. I can think of many more occasions in past races where Mclaren seem to sabotaging Hamilton race, not to mention Redbull and Mark. It was pretty clear what they wanted, yeah, tell Mark to turn down his engine, allow his team to gain, by Horner’s account Mark should have just moved over for his faster team mate. Talk about give the Aussie a Fair Go, exact same case with Mclaren, lucky Hamilton he’s better racer and didn’t make too much of a mess out of it. If you can’t see this then you blinded by your faith in your prefer drivers.

      1. The BBC’s reporter rather diplomatically says
        “I asked their team principal Martin Whitmarsh, tongue in cheek, at which point did they tell Button to pass Hamilton. His raised eyebrows and facial expression told me everything I needed to know”
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8714706.stm

      2. I think you are barking up the wrong tree.

        Don’t you realise it’s a disadvantage to stay out longer? Look at the lap time charts – everyone went quicker directly after their pit stop. So if Lewis stayed out longer as you suggest, he would have just fallen further behind.

        In fact I would go as far as to suggest that McLaren deliberately kept Jenson out an extra lap to make sure he didn’t jump Lewis.. that extra lap only lost him time and ensured he rejoined behind Lewis.

        As regards McLaren and Red Bull sabotaging Lewis and Mark intentionally… What about Vettel’s spark plug in Bahrain, wheel rim in Australia, brakes in Spain… and McLaren starting Jenson on the wrong tyres in Malaysia, faulty steering wheel in Spain, bung in his radiator in Monaco? Looks like they’ve all suffered.

        The conspiracy is all in your mind due to your bias.

      3. considering his pace and the fact that if he stays out longer he may have passed Webber

        Button stayed out and lapped in 1’32.0 and 1’31.9. Webber’s first lap after his pit stop was 1’31.6. Keeping Hamilton out was not going to help him pass Webber. (You can see this data here https://www.racefans.net/2010/05/30/pit-stop-hiccup-fails-to-stop-hamilton-turkish-grand-prix-analysis/)

        As I’ve said here several times in the past, since the refuelling ban there’s generally no advantage in pitting later than your rival. To get ahead your best bet it to pit first and get the benefit from fresher tyres sooner.

        1. Absolutely.

          Keith, what’s your take on why Jensen stayed out an extra lap? Do you think it was a team decision to ensure he didn’t jump Lewis after his longer-than-planned stop? If he had pitted the lap after Lewis it would have been mighty close.

    48. Interesting article here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tomcary/100008885/five-unanswered-questions-from-a-breathless-turkish-gp/

      Either Button is lying (wouldn’t surprise me – he’s comes across as a smiling assassin and not a fair guy), or something strange is happening in that team amongst the engineers.

      Is it any wonder Lewis looked so miserable on the podium?

    49. @ S Hughes: a smiling assassin?….wow, I never got that. I can’t recall many incidences over the last 10 years of his career where Button has been guilty of unscrupulous or underhanded behaviour (in the same way one might think that Schumacher/Alonso/Senna may be guilty of).

      It seems fairly evident that you dislike/hate Button because of his blonde hair and blue eyes (dare I say it – Aryan features) in the same manner you believe that people dislike/hate Hamilton because of his brown skin and brown eyes…

      Not cool…

    50. I think the link below might help you decide on what you call black/blonde theory.

      Regards

      http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=129317963761282&oid=7301659877

    51. So much for the naysayers: it turns out that Lewis WAS assured Button would NOT overtake him if he (Lewis) conserved fuel, and Button DID take advantage of that to overtake Lewis. See the BBC’s report:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/06/new_evidence_for_hamiltons_dis.html

      Still not evidence of a team-wide anti-Lewis conspiracy, but nevertheless an indication that Hamilton’s engineer, at the very least, didn’t know what was going on. Weird.

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